Synnove's Song

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 1832 (Kvikne) – 1910 (Paris)



Have thanks for all from our childhood's day,
 Our play together in woodland roaming.
I thought that play would go on for aye,
 Though life should pass to its gloaming.

I thought that play would go on for aye,
 From bowers leading of leafy birches
To where the Solbakke houses lay,
 And where the red-painted church is.

I sat and waited through evenings long
 And scanned the ridge with the spruces yonder;
But darkening mountains made shadows throng,
 And you the way did not wander.

I sat and waited with scarce a doubt:
 He'll dare the way when the sun's descended.
The light shone fainter, was nearly out,
 The day in darkness had ended.

My weary eye is so wont to gaze,
 To turn its look it is slow in learning;
No other landmark it seeks, nor strays,
 Beneath the brow sorely burning.

They name a place where I help may find,
 And fain to Fagerli church would guide me;
But try not thither to move my mind;
 He sits there ever beside me.

--But good it is, that full well I know,
 Who placed the houses both here and yonder,
Then cut a way through the woods so low
 And let my eye on it wander.

But good it is that full well I know,
 Who built the church and to pray invited,
And made them meeting in pairs to go
 Before the altar united.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:12 min read
53

Quick analysis:

Scheme abCb Cdad efef ghgh dbdb ijij Kfkf Khkh
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,220
Words 238
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit", becoming the first Norwegian Nobel laureate. Bjørnson is considered to be one of The Four Greats (De Fire Store) among Norwegian writers, the others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland. Bjørnson is also celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian National Anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". more…

All Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson poems | Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Books

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